Nashik: Ahead of Kumbh Mela, the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) has decided to clean Godavari river by taking a cue from a similar drive to clean Sabarmarti river in Gujarat as its earlier experiments to use robots for unclogging of the water body came unstuck.

"The civic body has decided to clean Godavari river and its ghats through a technical system which was successfully used to clean Sabarmati river," its Deputy Commissioner Rohidas Dorpulkar told reporters Wednesday evening.

The NMC had earlier used robots to unclog the water body, which runs through the city and mostly covered by algae, but the experiments failed to yield desirable results.

Some NGOs and environmentalists had earlier approached the Bombay High Court over river pollution issue.

The civic body will invite contractors and other organisations for giving presentation before NMC on cleaning of the river, he added.

The officer cited the civic body will also ban washing of clothes and dumping of waste materials into the river.